


Safe at Home

by EllenOfOz



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Anxious Castiel (Supernatural), Bunker Fluff, Canon Universe, Castiel and Dean Winchester Use Their Words, Coda, Covid-19 Related, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff in the Men of Letters Bunker (Supernatural), Isolation, M/M, Men of Letters Bunker (Supernatural), Post-Episode: s15e13 Destiny's Child, Sam Winchester Needs Brain Bleach, Season 15, no one is sick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:47:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23489344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllenOfOz/pseuds/EllenOfOz
Summary: Dean, Castiel, Sam and Jack are isolating in the bunker, sheltering from Chuck's latest threat - the coronavirus pandemic. Castiel is not content with being cooped up, though.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 39
Kudos: 311





	Safe at Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MandalaRose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MandalaRose/gifts).



> Hi friends. We're really going through it right now, aren't we? I know there have been a lot of quarantine fics written already, but I had to get these words out of my head. 
> 
> _None of TFW has covid-19 in this story_ , and while there are mentions of the situation, they are mostly at the start.
> 
> I'd like to gift this little story to the lovely MandalaRose for her birthday, during this last week. Not only is she sheltering and working from home, working extra hard to take care of her flock of teachers remotely, but she's also looking after and schooling her own kids at the same time. I know it's so hard, but I hope you can take a little time for yourself too, you wonderful human <3
> 
> I hope you are all healthy and safe, wherever you are.

" _The death toll in New York city has climbed to nearly three thousand—that's nearly five hundred in the last twenty-four hours_." 

Dean walked into the room he’d lovingly styled the “Dean-cave” to see Cas sitting, hunched, on the edge of one of the armchairs, staring at the TV. The angel had been in here, off and on, for days now. 

" _The situation in Italy remains critical, with the number of deaths from COVID-19 climbing steadily towards fifteen thousand_."

Cas gave a soft grunt of dismay, and as Dean stepped closer, he could see Cas rubbing his hands together, his long fingers white with the pressure. 

He reached out, resting his hand on Cas' trenchcoated shoulder. "Hey, you okay? You've been in here all morning."

Cas didn't reply, just kept staring at the TV and rubbing his fingers over the back of his other hand as the reporter repeated the numbers for countries around the world. 

"The numbers are alarming, Dean. I need to get out there—" 

"We went over this already," Dean interrupted, dropping a bowl of popcorn on the side table, before plopping down in the two-seater couch they’d replaced one armchair with. "You said yourself that your grace was fading. You can't heal everyone, remember?" 

Cas didn't take his eyes off the screen, from the experts giving their opinions. "What if I want to?" 

Dean sighed, rubbing at his forehead. "We all want to, but Chuck's got us good this time."

For the last few months, they'd watched with growing disbelief as the virus had spread across the world, across the United States in a matter of weeks. If Dean hadn't been there and seen Cas cut the ring from Pestilence's finger, he'd've laid money on another apocalypse—more Croatoan on the way. But the virus didn’t make people crazy or violent, although there was plenty of stupid going around. Billie had set them straight—her boys weren't responsible for this. It was almost certainly Chuck, messing with this version of Earth again. 

Billie had been too busy to explain what she'd meant by "almost certainly,” and Dean really hadn’t wanted to ask.

By the time the surrounding counties of Kansas had issued the order to shelter in place, Dean was happy to. They had plenty of food, beer, toilet paper and WiFi. Of course it helped that if any of them did contract the virus, they had an angel on hand to heal them, but until either things went back to some kind of normal or they were called into a hunt, Dean was more than happy to stay the fuck at home.

Castiel, however, was not. He'd taken to spending long hours watching the news feeds like this. He'd agreed to stay put, not because he was vulnerable in any way, but because a lone guy trying to break into hospital wards to heal people was bound to raise a few eyebrows. But Dean knew that sitting in front of the news all day wasn’t doing him any good. Hence the popcorn. He was hoping to distract Cas with a movie. 

“How’s Jack?” Cas asked abruptly, his eyes still locked on the TV screen.

Dean glanced over at Cas again. Jack had also been taking the isolation hard. It had only been a couple of weeks after he’d got his soul back, and Jack had been raring to get back out in the world to experience it again, only to have everything shut down, and to be ordered to stay inside. He also had wanted to get out to help people, and Dean had been trying to remind him that they could spread the virus around just by touching infected things, which had freaked the poor kid out a little. Plus, he still wasn’t allowed to use his grace. 

“I dunno, he won’t talk to me,” Dean said, shrugging. It stung, especially since Jack had begged for forgiveness for all he’d done without his soul, and Dean had fallen to his knees on the hard kitchen floor and pulled the sobbing kid into his arms. 

Of course he'd forgiven him, just like he had Cas back in Purgatory. All that anguish, the thought that he'd lost Cas _again_ without having apologized to him, and the emotional roller-coaster of finding him again, and he still hadn't got to confess his feelings to Cas' face. Prayer might have been the easy way out, but it wasn't the most satisfying. 

Still, since then, forgiving had been easier—the anger had been muted, somehow. He was still pissed at Chuck, of course—nothing on Earth or in Heaven was gonna stop that, but now that Jack was back and they were all together again, he was starting to feel like maybe, just maybe, they had a chance again. 

One of the panel on the news program mentioned Kansas, and drew Dean’s attention to the TV again. 

“ _Some good news out of Kansas City this morning. We’ve just heard reports that not only have several of the most severe cases in intensive care at the Saint Luke’s Hospital improved dramatically this morning, but there have been no new cases reported in the city for several days._ ” 

The medical expert sitting next to him shook her head in wonder. “ _That’s incredible, Tom. The people of Kansas have an angel watching over them, that’s for sure._ ” 

Dean turned his head deliberately to stare at Cas. The angel ducked his head for barely a moment, before lifting it to square his shoulders. 

“Was that you?” Dean asked. 

Cas shifted his gaze around, and eventually said gruffly, "I couldn't leave them to die."

Dean tried to keep his voice even, but he can’t help the frustration leaking through, even though his heart swelled with how selfless he knew Cas would always be. “You said you wouldn’t go out there again. You’re not worried about spreading the virus without knowing it? We all agreed to stay put.”

“I know that, Dean. I remember.” Cas shifted, uncomfortable. “I just... I need to do something. I can’t sit around while people are dying out there, when it’s something I can fix.”

Dean huffed. "So what, you’re just gonna burn yourself out trying to stop this tidal wave? Then what? What happens when your grace is gone, you wanna be human again?" 

Cas shook his head. "That doesn’t matter. We’ve got Jack back now, and he’s on the way to being able to take Chuck down. You don’t need me here anymore.” He stood up, turning to leave, but Dean reached up to catch him by the sleeve of his coat before he could leave. 

"What? Wait, No. No, Cas, that’s not true." He couldn’t let Cas leave the bunker again, but how could he ask him to stay?

Castiel turned to look back at the TV screen, where they were replaying the President giving a press conference. He frowned again.

This was it, Dean knew. He hadn’t got to say everything he’d wanted to in Purgatory, and now was his chance.

“Cas, please. If you lost your grace, if you were human again, that’d be fine. But you’d be out there, and vulnerable. We need you to stay here and be safe. For Jack, especially. He loves you, and I…” he trailed off, 

“And you...what?” Cas asked, with the unfathomable patience of angels. 

Dean took a breath, then another. “I know...fuck, I know this sounds so selfish with what’s going on out there, but... You're the only one who grounds me, man. Without you here, stuck in this bunker? I'd go crazy.”

Cas scoffed, looking away again. “I'm sure there's something you could find to do.”

Dean tried again. "No, I mean I'd go nuts worrying about you. Please. This is me asking you to stay. Last time I was so angry, and I let you go. But not this time. Will you stay?" 

He stood up, coming face to face with Cas. Reaching forward, he took Cas’ hand.

“I can’t lose you again.” 

The breath hitched in Cas’ throat. “Dean, I—” he began, but Dean leaned in before he second-guessed himself, and planted a kiss right on Cas’ surprised mouth.

It only lasted a moment, but Dean pulled back to gauge Cas’ reaction. The angel was wide-eyed.

“Dean, you...you kissed me.”

Dean could help his smile. “Yeah, I did.” He faltered as what he’d just done sunk in. “Sorry, I shouldn’t’ve—”

Cas reached up to cradle Dean’s face in his palm, leaning forward to kiss him back. 

White noise rang in Dean’s head, drowning out all thought. He’d dreamed about this moment for so long, for years, in fact. And here it was, and it was sweet, and soft, and perfect.

And someone was at the door. “Dean? Cas?”

Oh crap, it was Sam. Dean and Cas broke apart, turning towards Sam just as Jack appeared behind him in the doorway. “Sam? What’s happening?” Jack asked.

“Uh, nothing,” Sam said, glancing between Dean and Cas with a smirk. “Nothing. Hey, let’s go watch something in my room.” He ushered Jack away, casting Dean a knowing look that he had a feeling he was going to be hearing about for weeks. 

He turned back to Cas with a wince. “So, you wanna watch a movie?” 

Cas had the smallest smile on his face, that Dean knew meant contentment. “You can’t distract me from this crisis with kisses and TV, you know.” 

“I can try,” Dean replied with a smirk, planting another kiss on the curve of Cas’ jaw, then pulled him down to the couch, reaching for the remote.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I appreciate all of your reads, comments and kudos so much <3
> 
> There's plenty more coming from me soon, including two bang fics and some more Felix (I know, I'm sorry), so please stay tuned.


End file.
